Friday, April 07, 2006

Early Easter Reflections...

Several years ago I attended a Good Friday service at a friend's Pentecostal church, the opening song was “He is risen…” I don’t think that they really understood the Jesus story in jumping to the punch line they failed to recognise the need for the whole story…In the Church we need the whole story firstly, because it is not just a happy ever after because a happy ever after cannot exist with out a once upon a time, and the journey of discovery that must follow that. For the Christian Church the happily ever after can only come through the pain of the cross, the gift of the resurrection and the hope of eternity with Christ.Secondly, through the Easter story the breadth of human experience is drawn in and given fresh meaning in the light of the resurrection. Jesus’ abandonment gives a silent voice to the cry of millions who suffer. In Elie Wiesel’s famous work Night he relays the story of a young Auschwitz prisoner hung from the gallows. Wiesel writes, “behind me, I hear a man asking: “Where is God now? And I heard a voice within me answer him: “Where is He? Here He is – He is hanging here on this gallows…”In the Narnia stories Aslan is overpowered by the witch and killed, the children wonder, “How can this be?” That is the question we all ask, but the stone table is broken, the tomb is empty Love has conquered death, because there is deeper magic at work in this world, Elie in his faith struggle saw it, the Narnia children discovered it and my Pentecostal friend new it all along, and subsequently to quote Lewis, “When a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the table would crack and death itself would start working backwards.”At Easter time we are split in many ways with many of our young people being all too familiar with pain and loss, while others will by pass the Friday as quickly as possible. Easter weekend then is not a holiday but a time to pause… Reflect, cry with those who have loss and laugh with joy on the resurrection morning…